 visited Turkey’s ousted main opposition leader Özgür Özel late Thursday in a show of solidarity after a court ruling removed him from the leadership of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).){kind=link}
A delegation from Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) visited Turkey’s elected main opposition leader Özgür Özel late Thursday in a show of solidarity after a court ruling removed him from the leadership of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and reinstated former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Özel, who received the delegation in his office at the Turkish Parliament, described the visit as an act of solidarity from a sister party at an extraordinary moment for the CHP.
“This process we are going through prompted our sister party, the German Social Democratic Party, the SPD, to pay us a solidarity visit today,” Özel said. “Of course, in these extraordinary times, we are all experiencing firsts together.”
The delegation was led by SPD deputy federal chairman Alexander Schweitzer and included Katarina Barley, a vice president of the European Parliament; German lawmaker Serdar Yüksel; Philipp Türmer, the Federal Chairman of the Jusos, the youth organization of the SPD; European Parliament member Tobias Cremer; and representatives from Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
Özel said the delegation also delivered a letter of solidarity from Lars Klingbeil, Germany’s vice chancellor and finance minister.
Speaking on behalf of the SPD delegation, Schweitzer emphasized the close political and social ties between Germany and Turkey, saying the relationship between the two countries extended beyond governments because of a large Turkish community in Germany.
Schweitzer said Germany and Europe needed a strong Turkey, adding that such strength required a strong rule of law.
He said the delegation had arrived in Ankara with concerns about the political situation in Turkey and that those concerns had not been eased after the meeting with Özel but had instead grown.
Schweitzer also said the decision on who should lead the CHP should be made by CHP members and delegates, not through court intervention.
The visit came amid a deepening political crisis inside the CHP after the 36th Civil Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice on May 21 annulled the party’s 38th Ordinary Congress, where Özel defeated Kılıçdaroğlu in November 2023 and became party chairman.
The court ruled that the congress was legally invalid and ordered Kılıçdaroğlu and the party bodies elected under his leadership to return to office as an interim measure. The decision, if implemented, would amount to one of the most dramatic judicial interventions in Turkey’s main opposition party in recent years.
Following the court decision, CHP headquarters came under the control of the Kılıçdaroğlu administration, while Özel began using his office in parliament as a de facto political center.
The CHP has refused to recognize the ruling, calling it unlawful, and has filed objections with both the court and election authorities.
The court decision drew international criticism, with European officials and political groups warning that it threatened political pluralism and democratic competition. EU foreign affairs spokesperson Anitta Hipper said legal and administrative proceedings should not be used to intimidate opposition parties or hamper their participation in political life on equal terms with governing parties.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also criticized the decision, saying it conflicted with Turkey’s stated goal of European Union membership and that political competition in democracies should be conducted through politics rather than the courts.
The CHP has been under growing legal and political pressure since its major gains in the March 2024 local elections, with more than 20 of its mayors and hundreds of municipal officials detained or arrested in investigations the party says are politically motivated.
The congress case was based on allegations of irregularities in the 2023 leadership vote, including claims of vote buying and manipulation. The CHP denies wrongdoing and says the lawsuits are part of an effort to undermine the party’s elected leadership.
Özel and the CHP leadership have repeatedly accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of using the courts to pressure the opposition and weaken the party ahead of the next general election, scheduled for 2028. The government denies interfering in the judiciary and says Turkish courts act independently.